Firefighters, city at pay impasse

Sunday

Bartlesville firefighters are fighting for increased wages — a fight that has not been met with agreement from the City of Bartlesville and is set to continue in an arbitration hearing next month.

Bartlesville firefighters are fighting for increased wages — a fight that has not been met with agreement from the City of Bartlesville and is set to continue in an arbitration hearing next month.

Fire department union officials say contract negotiations with the city appear stalled as the two sides have failed to reach an agreement concerning pay.

Bartlesville Fire Department Capt. David Topping, who currently serves as president of the IAFF Local 200, said the department requested a 2 percent cost of living increase originally presented to them by city officials, as well as a 5 percent merit increase which was later approved for other city employees.

Cost of living increases apply to all employees regardless of pay, while merit increases are given only to employees who have not "topped out," or who have not reached the top of their pay scale.

Topping said the city pulled the 2 percent cost of living increase off the table when it offered the 5 percent merit increase in June.

"I said, ‘That doesn’t work because that affects less than half of our department because we have so many of them who are topped out,’" Topping told the Examiner-Enterprise recently.

Topping said while 5 percent merit increases would help firefighters, the increase "is not going to fix things."

"They need that five percent (merit increase) and they need that two percent cost of living," he said.

City records show that the starting wage for a firefighter is $11.22 an hour — making them eligible for food stamps, in some cases, Topping says — but city officials counter that firefighters are paid for working 2,912 hours per year, rather than the 2,080 worked by traditional city employees.

Topping says firefighters requested the 2 percent cost of living increase so that the workers who have been topped out for several years can get a small boost. According to Topping, the department ranks 32 when compared to wages of other fire departments in the state.

"We’ve taken that stance because our wages are so low," Topping said.

City Attorney Jerry Maddux said the firefighters have been offered the same 5 percent merit raise that police officers agreed to in their contract and other eligible non-contract city employees received, including Maddux and City Manager Ed Gordon, who were approved by the City Council to receive the merit increase.

"They wouldn’t agree to that, they wanted more. By more, I mean … in addition to that a cost of living raise, which everybody would receive — including those employees who are at the top of their pay scale," Maddux said, referring to the fire department.

Maddux explained that he and Gordon received the 5 percent merit increase because they are contract employees and cannot top out of their pay grade.

He said he is unsure what claims about the fire department’s pay ranking 32nd in the state are based on but, he said, if based on hourly rate, the fact that Bartlesville firefighters have "built-in overtime" should be considered.

According to Maddux, there are other issues the city and fire department have thus far been unable to agree on — one being the ability for firefighters to "buy" someone else to work for them.

Maddux explained that a firefighter is supposed to work on a specific date but will sometimes "make a deal" with another firefighter who will work in the firefighter’s place and receive pay from the scheduled firefighter.

"The result is that sometimes these guys don’t show up for months. They just hire someone to work for them and they’re getting paid and they’re getting it added onto their pension but they’re not training, they’re not working with their crew, and there’s no limit on that," Maddux said. "Theoretically, now obviously it would never happen, (but) theoretically a fireman could go to work, never work a day and retire in 20 years with pension."

Maddux said there have been cases where firefighters don’t show up to work for several months.

"That was never an issue until our last negotiation," Topping countered. "They know they can’t beat us in arbitration and they told us that. They said, ‘You know, we’re gearing up for a vote of the people and we’re going to add this issue in here also.’" (If arbitrators find in the union’s favor in November, the city has the option of asking local voters to decide the issues.)

Topping said other cities in the state have tried to go against fire departments on trading time and the Oklahoma Attorney General has already ruled in the favor of fire departments.

"It’s a common practice in fire departments throughout the United States, probably throughout the world. It’s not something that just happens here — everybody trades time," he said.

Topping explained that if he can’t work during his scheduled time, he has to find someone who is qualified to fill in for him and trade time with them. He said some workers do pay others to work their shift, "every once in a while."

"It has never been an issue until, apparently, this year," Topping said.

Maddux said the city also wants to do away with how promotions are currently decided. According to Maddux, promotions are given to the most senior employee who passes a test, rather than the most qualified person to pass the test.

Topping said changing the way promotions are done across the board was never discussed. He said discussions about promotions were centered on just one position — battalion chief.

Topping said that during negotiations he has shown city officials all the problems the fire department has, where the deficits are and how low the city is on the pay scale when compared to other cities.

"They won’t come up with a solution — there is no solution. Nobody wants to give a solution, just excuses," Topping said.

Topping said the fire department has several unresolved issues that need to be addressed, including the fact that a permanent chief has not been named since Bob Hasbrook’s retirement 10 months ago, the need for newer equipment and possible changes being made in the design of a new public safety facility approved by voters earlier this year.

But Topping said that despite the problems, firefighters remain dedicated and will continue to serve the citizens of Bartlesville.

"If that bell goes off, they’re 100 percent," he said.

Records show firefighters responded to 3,057 logged calls last year, and that number doesn’t account for public service events, smoke investigations and installation of smoke detectors, Topping said.

Topping noted that each a time a firefighter position opens, there are fewer and fewer applicants than past years.

"I have watched this department go from one of the most prestigious jobs in the city to the bottom," Topping said.

And in years past, Topping says, the department has often given in to what the city requests during negotiations.

"We’ve kind of laid down. We’ve knuckled under and (have) given them what they want," he said.

With no compromise in sight and several months of negotiations behind them, an impasse has been declared and an arbitration hearing is set for Nov. 26.

Maddux explained that there will be a panel made up of a representative for the city, a representative for the fire department and an arbitrator. The arbitrator was selected from a list of five possible arbitrators provided by the Federal Mediation and Reconciliation Service. The selection process — by law — entailed the city striking a name from the list, following by the union striking a name, then the city, then the union — who would be choosing between the remaining two, Maddux said.

"It’s a last best offer-type arbitration. They make their proposal, we make ours. They have to pick one or the other, they can’t pick and choose. If the arbitrator rules against the city, then the City Council has a short period of time in which to decide whether to accept the proposal by the firefighters or ask the voters to vote on it and they call an election," Maddux said, adding that contract negotiations have been taken to voters one other time, around 2002. In that election, the city prevailed.

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